Planned firings slow in September

Housing-related job losses account for a third of layoffs

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The pace of planned workforce reductions slowed in September, but the collapse of the housing and mortgage industries continued to exact a toll, according to an unscientific tally released Wednesday.

Planned job reductions fell by 9.7% in September to 71,739, according to outplacement Challenger Gray & Christmas. Housing-related layoffs totaled 26,465, about a third of the total of job reductions announced by major companies. See our list of housing-related layoffs.

So far this year, housing-related layoffs have reached 97,509, about eight times as many in the first nine months of 2006, the firm said. Housing-related job losses account for about one in six jobs cut by major companies this year.

In the first nine months of the year, announced job cuts have totaled 587,594, about 8% less than in the same period a year ago.

Financial firms have cut nearly 130,000 jobs this year, many of them at mortgage and subprime lending companies. The auto industry, by contrast, has cut 46,237 jobs this year, down significantly from 111,642 through the first nine months of 2006.

"Financial firms cannot cut their payrolls fast enough, especially in the mortgage lending sector," said John Challenger, president of the firm. In the past two months, housing-related jobs cuts have accounted for 82% of the jobs lost in the financial sector, which includes banks, investment banks, stock brokers and money managers.

Most construction and real estate jobs would not be counted in Challenger's survey of major corporate layoffs, because firms in the sector are mostly small businesses that do not announce layoffs.

The Challenger report covers only a tiny fraction of those who lose their jobs each month.

In July for instance, a total of 1.5 million workers were discharged from their jobs involuntarily, representing about 1.1% of total employment, according to the latest available data from the Labor Department. By comparison, 2.9 million people quit their jobs voluntarily in July.

The layoff announcements as tracked by Challenger could take place immediately or over time. The reductions could be accomplished by voluntary means such as retirements, buyouts or workers leaving for other jobs, and they could be offset by hiring in other divisions of a company.

For many of those in the mortgage industry, the layoff took effect immediately, as lenders shut down their operations.

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